Remi Garde faces big task to lift players but Aston Villa are not one of the bottom three teams in the league, says Kevin MacDonald

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Remi Garde gained an immediate sense of the size of the task awaiting him at Aston Villa as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham - their seventh league loss in a row.

The Frenchman had been confirmed as Villa’s new manager earlier in the day and saw his journey from Lyon over to London delayed by fog, not arriving at White Hart Lane until an hour before kick-off on Monday night.

Garde sat impassively in the directors’ box alongside chief executive Tom Fox as Mousa Dembele fired Spurs into the lead three minutes after kick-off.

Remi Garde was at White Hart Lane on Monday night after earlier being appointed the new Aston Villa manager

Garde takes his seat in the stands only to see his new side fall behind after just three minutes

Garde was all smiles with the Aston Villa shirt before watching his new team crash at Tottenham

Dele Alli then doubled the hosts’ advantage on the stroke of half-time with a superb volley.

Rock-bottom Villa did give Garde some cause for optimism when Jordan Ayew halved the deficit, but a stoppage time third from Harry Kane sealed it for Spurs with his fifth club goal of the season.

Garde will begin work on Tuesday with his new team four points from safety - and facing the daunting prospect of a home fixture with top-of-the-table Manchester City on Sunday.

Villa interim manager Kevin MacDonald struck an upbeat tone: ‘It’s a big task, we’re bottom of the league. It’s hard. He must have the confidence in his own ability and confidence in the players to want to take the job. He’s going to be the man to take us out of relegation trouble.

Mousa Dembele (centre) holds off the challenge of Villa defender Ciaran Clark before firing past Brad Guzan

Dembele heads towards the corner to celebrate his strike after putting it through the legs of keeper Guzan

‘With Remi’s experience and his knowledge of how he wants to play, he will get them to play his way very quickly. Villa are not one of the bottom three teams in the league.

‘I think he saw a team with great work ethic and a great desire to triumph over adversity after conceding two goals. We pushed on second-half and put a Tottenham team with outstanding players under pressure.

‘But they broke away and scored a fantastic goal and we caused ourselves a lot of problems by giving the ball away in silly areas.’

Spurs’ win means they extended their unbeaten league sequence to 10 matches, but coach Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t getting carried away.

He said: ‘It means nothing. In football, it is always the present. The next game is very important.

‘Today was not an easy game to play, it was their first game with a new manager and they can over-motivate. The victory is fair, I am happy and we are in a good position in the table

Talented midfielder Dele Alli doubled the lead for Tottenham with a composed finish from inside the box

Jordan Ayew's effort from range beats Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris via a deflection off Jan Vertonghen

Tottenham duo Dembele (left) and Erik Lamela (centre) double up on Villa left back Kieran Richardson

Villa's trouble deepened when Alli took the ball down on his thigh and fired a half-volley into the bottom corner

Kane restored Tottenham's two-goal lead in injury-time with a clinical finish after good work by Lamela

Kane (left) celebrates with team-mate Lamela after the making sure of victory at White Hart Lane